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Bluegrass on the Grass


Bluegrass wafted across green grasses last Saturday, when Dickinson's 15th-annual bluegrass festival came to campus. And the threat of rain didn't dissuade a crowd of approximately 2,500 from enjoying it.

Sponsored by the Dickinson College Chautauqua Concert Series, a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and local businesses and patrons, the Bluegrass on the Grass festival featured two one-hour sets each by four well-known bluegrass groups. Each band presented both original and traditional tunes and offered four unique takes on the genre, which blends old-time country music, European and American folk songs and tinges of gospel, blues and jazz.

It was a full and colorful event. The festival kicked off at 1 p.m. with The Special Consensus, a National Public Radio mainstay that enjoys weaving bluegrass arrangements of non-bluegrass hits between traditional and original selections. Singer-songwriter Sally Jones next made waves in a special appearance with The Night Drivers, a band led by her singer-songwriter husband, Chris. [Article continues below.]


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  • The Drivers keep up with the Joneses as songwriter/recording artist Sally Jones makes a special appearance with husband Chris Jones' band, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers.
    Keeping Up With Joneses
  • For this special performance, Sally Jones takes center stage with Chris Jones and the Night Riders. Sally, who fronts her own band, Sally Jones & the Sidewinders, has appeared at the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival, the Ryman, MerleFest and European World of Bluegrass.
    Sally Jones
  • Music fans came from several neighboring states for an afternoon of feel-good bluegrass music. By evening, the crowd grew to an estimated 2,500.
    Music Fans, Unite!
  • This phrase, emblazoned on a banjo case, says it all.
    Forever Bluegrass
  • The Freight Hoppers perform a modern twist on old-time Americana. From left: David Bass, Isaac Deal, Thomas Bailey and Frank Lee.
    Freight Hoppers
  • North Carolina-based The Freight Hoppers perform a variety of original favorites. Originally formed in 1992, the band gained national attention on National Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion in 1996. In 2002 the group temporarily disbanded, but it hopped back into the limelight in 2007.
    Hopping to it
  • Formed in 1945 when a group of high-school chums in Chatanooga first joined forces, The Dismembered Tennesseans draws on decades of experiences onstage. The band is a longtime Bluegrass on the Grass favorite.
    Dismembered Tennesseans
  • Guitarists Brian Blaylock (left) and Bobby Martin harmonize with bassist/vocalist Laura Walker.
    Dismembered Members
  • Headlining act The Boxcars performs its first set of contemporary bluegrass. Members of the group have performed with Alison Krauss & Union Station, J.D. Crowe & the New South, Blue Moon Rising and Union Station's Dan Tyminski.
    The Boxcars
  • Davis Tracy (right), host of the festival, enjoys the show with the Dismembered Tennesseans' Fletcher Bright. Last year, Bright and his Tennessee-based band were honored by the Chattanooga History Center's fourth-annual History Makers Award.
    Davis Tracy
  • The Special Consensus stops at the festival in the midst of a national tour. The band tours year-round, nationally and internationally, and introduces bluegrass music to schoolchildren through its Traditional American Music Program.
    Special Consensus
  • Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ryan Roberts, who joined the band last fall, wails out a tune. At the Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Awards ceremony, Roberts was named Songwriter of the Year for five consecutive years; his solo recording was awarded Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2009.
    Ryan Roberts
The Drivers keep up with the Joneses as songwriter/recording artist Sally Jones makes a special appearance with husband Chris Jones' band, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers. Prev ImageNext Image

The Freight Hoppers kicked up dust with old-time roots music and quirky bass lines; longtime festival favorites The Dismembered Tennesseans followed up with a melody-driven slice of Americana that has kept the band playing since 1945.  And the fun didn't stop until after 9:30 p.m., when headliners The Boxcars rounded their final contemporary-bluegrass tune. 

Sounding like home

A nine-and-a-half-hour program is not easy to organize, but it is more than worth the effort. Over the years, the festival has grown from a one-band barn concert to a daylong extravaganza that draws music fans from several neighboring states. That's because bluegrass music and its related subgenre, roots music, soundly resonates with American audiences, said festival founder and host Davis Tracy, an avid bluegrass fan and advisor of Dickinson's radio station, WDCV.

"The themes in bluegrass lyrics and the instrumentation and vocal harmonies are commemorative of issues in the lives of Americans," said Tracy, who recently retired from his post as director of Dickinson’s counseling center, but intends to continue to host Bluegrass on the Grass for years to come.

"With its roots in both music of the British Isles and African-American blues and gospel, bluegrass and old-time music feels like home to many Americans."

Learn more about the festival's 15th-anniversary celebration.

By MaryAlice Bitts
Photos by A. Pierce Bounds '71